Welcome to Award Season everyone. Within the last fortnight the the finalists for the 2024 Hugo Awards and the 59th Nebula Awards have been announced, and it looks like another competitive pair of ballots. Here are links to both sets of final ballots:

Hugo Awards: https://glasgow2024.org/hugo-awards/2024-hugo-award-finalists/

Nebula Awards: https://nebulas.sfwa.org/sfwa-announces-the-59th-nebula-awards-finalists/

I was having concerns with the Hugo Awards, considering that we’ve only just finished talking about the fallout from last year’s dumpster fire. I had to take a step back from following Hugo news, because I was just getting really frustrated with things, so I haven’t looked up all policies the Glasgow Worldcon have adopted to fix things, but I have noticed some changes on the ballot that I assume are a response to the Changdu Incident. Mainly, at the end of the ballot there is a list of all works that have been withdrawn or disqualified. Normally we don’t get this information until the nomination statistics are dropped unless an author reveals it, so it is nice having that information out in the open right away.

Of the disqualified works, one novel, 天帆 (Cosmo Wings) by 江波 (Jiang Bo), received enough votes to make it on the final ballot, but was disqualified due to being published in 2024 instead of 2023. Which, if I can get access to an English translation puts it on my To Read list for next year’s Hugos, but so far I’ve had no luck there. The other two disqualified works were Chinese podcast/radio shows that were nominated in the Best Fancast Category but were determined to be professional productions.

I’m glad to see that the Glasgow Worldcon team is making sure to put out the information about the DQs and Declined Nominations being released at literally the the first opportunity. I’m also glad to see that Xiran Jay Zhao’s eligibility for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer was extended and that she made the ballot this year.

Let’s take a look at the two ballots. First of all, Martha Wells received enough votes to qualify for both the Nebula and the Hugo awards with her novel ‘System Collapse’, but declined both nominations due to feeling like the Murderbot Diaries has already received a lot of praise and that other works should have the opportunity to be highlighted. A decision I respect, and a good time to remind everyone that the Murderbot Diaries series is amazing and you should all go read it. She is also still on both ballots for her fantasy novel ‘Witch King’, which, wow, what a feat to have two novels nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula in the same year.

There are two other novels that made it onto both ballots; ‘Translation State’ by Ann Leckie, which of course I read and have loved, it’s part of the Imperial Radch series, which was my gateway into modern (like, post, 2010) science fiction, and also Vajra Chandrasekera’s ‘The Saint of Bright Doors’, which was not on my radar but is going straight on the To Read pile. All the other novel nominees I have either greatly enjoyed or heard good things about, so I will hold off on any predictions until I have read everything. All I can say is that it is looking like a pretty strong year for both awards.

For novellas I admit I have been a bit behind on them, but I’m still surprised that Seanan McGuire’s ‘Lost in the Moment and Found’ is not on either ballot. I mean, I guess it makes sense, it is book 8 in a series, so a lot of people might not be caught up, may have dropped off, or may be uninterested in committing to a series of novellas. Still, listening to the audiobook in my car ended up requiring me to pull over and have a cry. With the bar set that high, I’m interested in reading all the nominees I have missed now. There are three novellas that made it onto both ballots: ‘Thornhedge’ by T. Kingfisher, ‘The Mimicking of Known Success’ by Malka Older, and ‘Mammoths at the Gates’ by Nghi Vo.

With Novelettes and Short Stories there are less repeats amongst the two awards, with both categories having two shared works each. There is one short story that I am excited to discover. 美食三品 (“Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”) by 宝树 / Baoshu: I have no idea what it’s about, but Baoshu wrote the Three-Body Problem fanfic that got published and translated. I’d love to read more of his stuff.

One major difference between the two ballots is that there are a lot more Chinese works and creators on the Hugo Ballot. This does make sense, since Worldcon Members from last year got to nominate, and since last year was in Changdu there would have been a lot of Chinese voters. Though three of the Chinese fiction finalists came from an anthology of new Chinese and English short stories called ‘Adventures in Space’ (edited by Patrick Parrinder and Yao Haijun), and Gu Shi’s novelette was translated by Emily Gin in Clarkesworld, so this could also indicate an increased interest in Chinese short fiction in the West. Which, I am down for that, I really hope this is a trend that continues.

I usually only talk about the fiction categories, but before I wrap up I do want to point out a few more awesome things. Nimona is nominated in both Awards. It’s not the only dramatic presentation to be so, but it wasn’t quite the blockbuster that Barbie, Dungeons and Dragons or Across the Spiderverse is, so I thought I should really show it more love. Was definitely one of the best movies of the year. Also, the two Star Trek SNWs episodes that got nominated for the Hugos are both awesome… especially Subspace Rhapsody. Just seeing it get a nomination made me go back and listen to all the songs from it. Also, Both Awards had a game/gamewriting/interactive work category this year. The Hugos doesn’t always do that. I saw a lot of titles there that are familiar from many game awards, but it was good to also see Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit roleplaying game make the Nebula Ballot, and both ballots had Chants of Sennaar by Rundisc, which neither me nor my gamer partner had heard of, but it sounds pretty fascinating.

All in all, I’m excited for the start of the award season. I’m excited to see works I love getting celebrated, and also love that I now have a ton of new recommended books to read. And it’s not over yet. There is still time to vote for the Locus Award. Anyone can vote up until April 15th. I’ll drop a link to the poll log in here, and if you are interested in nominating your favourite 2023 works, go request a personal voting link to start.

Locus Award Poll: https://poll.voting.locusmag.com/

I hope I’m not the only one adding new 2023 books to their To Read pile this week. Happy Reading everyone.

~ Jayde